I think it was a surprise to many (especially Chris) that I decided to run The Fling. I’ve struggled with running over the last few years and developed anxiety because of it (how can you develop anxiety with something you’ve done for 32 years?). It’s the only race that I regretted not doing in my younger years as I really wanted to run down that red carpet – that was my motivation to sign up. I quite enjoyed the training although I felt that it took over my entire life, probably my negative mindset. All was going to plan then the doubts set in as I’m really slow, my foot had started to give me problems again and to top it all I had a bad fall a week to go and badly sprained my wrist which dented my confidence. My anxiety was by now overwhelming and at times I didn’t think I would make it but funny enough on the day I felt really calm.
The first 27 miles went in pretty quickly which surprised me. I got in to the Rowardennan checkpoint with 23 mins to spare for that cut-off time. Chris was pretty surprised as I kept meeting him at checkpoints (he said himself that he spent too much time at the checkpoints). I actually enjoyed the loch-side for some reason, I don’t know why as when you get older you become less supple. After that section my legs must have been getting tired as I nearly fell 3 times kicking stones which wasn’t great for my confidence and I was worried about my already fragile wrist. However I was a woman with a mission and marched on, not even looking at my watch. I was lucky as I was only making the last few checkpoints by a few minutes but I was unaware of this until I got to them as I wasn’t looking at my watch. I felt fresh at the checkpoints probably because I wasn’t racing a time. I remember at one point climbing a hill (can’t remember where lol) and heard funky music which made me want to dance so I did lol. I think they took a video of me, would love to see that!
At certain points myself and James were overtaking each other. I felt gutted when James told me he was timed-out at the Beinglas checkpoint but all credit to him he was carrying on. I started running again a wee bit when I hit the farm road as it was flat and there were no bloody stones or tree roots. My mantra was ‘red carpet, red carpet’ and then it appeared.
I have to say it was one of the best moments of my life and I’m so proud of myself for coming so far, pardon the pun. I absolutely loved the day. Did I push myself? As a person I certainly did, I’ve never been on my feet for 15 hrs. Did I push myself as a runner? I would say no, but I don’t think I would’ve enjoy doing the day so much if I had.
One common thread whoever you talk to about the day and that’s the volunteers, they were amazing especially the big hug I got at the finish line, so thanks guys!
Ding Ding I ran the Fling!
